51 Interesting Facts You Might Be Unaware

51 Interesting Facts You Might Be Unaware

1. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."


2. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt"


3. Almonds are members of the peach family.


4. The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.


5. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.


6. Ingrown toenails are hereditary.


7. The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.


8. "Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und."


9. There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.


10. The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicros copicsilicovolca noconiosis.


11. The only other word with the same amount of letters is its plural: pneumonoultramicros copicsilicovolca noconiosesl.


12. The longest place-name still in use is Taumatawhakatangiha ngakoauauotamate aturipukakapikim aungahoronukupok aiwe-nuakit natahu, a New Zealand hill.


13. Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reinade los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size,L.A.


14. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.


15. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.


16. Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.


17. Telly Savalas and Louis Armstrong died on their birthdays.


18. Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.


19. The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers.


21. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.


23. There is a seven-letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the,there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.


24. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.


26. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.


27. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.


28. Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.


30. The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti


31. 'Stewardesses' is the longest English word that is typed with only the left hand.


33. The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways; the following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."


34. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.


35. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."


36. Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian seal for that reason.


37. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.


38. The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead."


39. The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.


40. State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska


41. Some toothpastes and deodorants contain the same chemicals found in antifreeze


42. The Shroud of Turin is the single most studied artifact in human history


43. Smartest dogs: 1) Scottish border collie; 2) Poodle; 3) Golden retriever


44. The sperm count of an average American male compared to thirty years ago is down thirty percent


45. Humpback whales are capable of living up to 95 years


46. The 1912, a wrestling match in Stockholm between Finn Alfred Asikainen and Russian Martin Klein lasted more than 11 hours. Klein eventually won, but was to tired to participate in the championship match


47. Manitoulin Island is the largest island in a fresh water lake. It is located in Canadian Lake Superior


48. Cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400


49. The Chinese politician Mao Zedong refused to ever brush his teeth and instead just washed his      mouth with tea


50. The Super Bowl is broadcast to over 182 countries in the world


51. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable."